Corrie Kinkel

Because I like this theme challenge and I like this mask I made another layout using a photo from a crabapple (Malus) tree in my neighborhood. With a more colorful photo and another background it looks completely  different. The background is made with 2 papers and a blendmode; all the elements are by Jessica Dunn and I made a very thin frame and the font is Beladine Gadelia.

The last couple of weeks in every patch of grass along roadsides and in public gardens is colored by "speenkruid" ( pilewort - ranunculus ficaria - lesser celandine) and this week I finally got the time to take a photo when we had a sunny spell.

14 hours ago, Julie Magerka said:

After a mild and warm March, we are having a much wetter and colder April so far. There are a few early bulbs out here but they're biding their time.  I had to dig into old pix to find one from my own garden a number of years ago.

The mask I used is the free one from Jessica at Curio Pantry. I blended a couple of background papers, used some splashes and splatters and some squiggles.

Nice use of the mask! I like this mask and it is very versatile!

X  =  Xyris commonly called yellow-eyed grass

10 hours ago, Michele said:

That is such a beautiful layout, Corrie. I get the newsletter from Marisa, but I didn't know Jessica had her own. Where can I sign up for hers?

Thank you and the answer is already given. I had a busy day and am just now looking in the campus!

13 minutes ago, Sue Thomas said:

For me it is very colourful!   lol  I'm  pretty certain you will  be familiar  with these native wild flowers.  It's still very  drab here,  there are signs of  grass starting to green. I enjoyed looking back over the recent  years for  photos I have taken when home, for this layout. 

Yes I noticed your unusual color scheme 🙃, but why not if the flowers dictate it. Indeed I know all the flowers you used and I think I will have some of them in photos of my own.

 Lately on a dry spell I came along a front garden in a street I normally pass by and saw a magnificent rather big Prunus in full bloom. The only problem was that I had to take my photo from the pavement and in that position it was impossible to get a good shot of the tree without getting the front window and door of that house on the photo too. Nowadays you have to be a bit careful when you do that, because most people don't like you doing so and I didn't want the house in the photo anyway. Therefore I took some close-ups and  used one of them here. 

I like the work of Jessica Dunn and subscribed to her newsletter recently. She hosts a mask challenge on digitalscrapbook.com for this month and has a freebie mask and as a welcome gift I got the mini kit dandelion wishes part 2. And I used both the mask and the kit for this layout to make a background from 2 papers with a blendmode. Made a cluster with some elements, changed some colors to go better with my color scheme and made a text frame because the frame in the kit was way to overpowering for this photo. The font is Belinda, a freebie from CF. Just a whole layout using freebies!!!

3 hours ago, Sue Thomas said:

UK WIld Flowers.  I have many favourites.  The Campion which  flourishes in hedgerows all over the country, can flower almost all year round in some areas.  Wales and Cornwall, especially so.  I used one of Carole's  lace picture tubes, edge magic script on the flower elements, which I created myself, adding the  flowers names on a curve, as the flowers are vectors. As for the tile, I went wild using many different fonts, and colours from the photos.  Due to compression, some of the flowers names in the  flowers may not be  legible.  Forget me nots, Primroses, Cowslips, Shepherds smock.  The  main photo is a macro shot of the Campion flower.

A very colorful layout, but it does justice to the colors of the flowers!

43 minutes ago, Susan Ewart said:

One more thing...I just learned I could Group all my Vectors ...I saw it in a tutorial on the Campus and tried it.  Makes life so much easier.  I used a number groups, sometimes for short period while I did something to the whole group, then ungrouped.  I linked a lot and also color coded.  Just what we have talked about in prev post (another forum post though, I think).  

You did a great job with this card and put a lot of effort in! I already used to link my layers and now I group/ungroup as well. I often rename my layers but I think color coding isn't my thing.

Q = Queen's Cup (Clintonia uniflora) it belongs to the Liliaceae family and grows in subalpine regions of North America, Europe and Asia.

1 hour ago, Susan Ewart said:

Pre-Happy Birthday Corrie.  How does one top a birthday gift like the universe is giving you.  Too bad you wont be able to receive it.  It's the thought that counts...that Universe, always thinking about us, eh?

Thank you Susan and I have no hesitation the pictures will be on all the tv-networks and social media! I suppose I 'm considering it as a special gift for my birthday 🤩! Enjoy! 

H = Iris

D = Dandylion

In 1999 we didn't had a total eclipse like Doska in Germany; it was a partial one and nevertheless it was impressive. It was a sunny day and suddenly it started to get darker, the birds stopped singing, everything got really quiet and later when the light got brighter the birds started to move around, dogs were barking again. The next partial eclipse in 2025 will be visible in the Netherlands too and when by chance the weather doesn't cooperate there will be another partial one in 2026 that will be visible in Belgium and the Netherlands. But I'm still sorry that I can't watch this total eclipse on my birthday, that would have made it even more special. So I wish all of you who are able to go a fantastic one of a lifetime experience. I hope we will get some lovely scrapbook pages of it! Enjoy and have fun!

4 hours ago, Bonnie Ballentine said:

I thought about making this (text) a sticker.

Bonnie very nicely done, so attractive!

1 hour ago, Donna Sillia said:

Corrie, I will be thinking of you and praying for the success of your eye treatment. My eyes are very bad, and ebooks and the computer have been a Godsend for us vision impaired individuals.

Thank you Donna and yes I don't know what I should do without the modern appliances! I for certain wouldn't have taken up scrapbooking. Think what we would have missed, all the great people that make this community much more then a scrapbook site! 

Yesterday I found them all too and send them in. It is always such fun and offering an opportunity to read blogs that I have forgotten about, although I have some of them printed for easy reference. Thank you Carole and happy easter!

17 hours ago, Sue Thomas said:

Talking about aging, and  all that it entails, I created this page last night, bar for the phrase strips I wanted to do.   For the life of me I couldn't remember the word I was looking for.  I knew it's meaning and in what context I was going to use it.  This morning out of the blue It came to me, dextrous.  I immediately wrote it down.  Now the page is complete.  I consider myself very lucky in the fact that I'm  fit and healthy. I do have to wear cheap magnifying glasses, which I have dotted all around the place, inside and out, purly for reading.   If my arms were a little longer I wouldn't need them.  I have noticed that I am getting forgetful. As Corrie says aging is what it is.  We have to accept getting older and  don't let it stand in our way.   The ground squirrels tolerate me laying amongst them, they still have an imaginary boundery, which I don't cross.  I have bought them a bag of  rabbit pellets, which they are enjoying. I haven't seen them today, eveywhere is white, although it has stopped snowing now.

Now then, my page.  I creared phrase strips, used Carole's page punches again.  Created a date stamp.  For the scalloped edges and the  cut out dots around the background paper I used several techniques, all of which you will find the many turorials in the creative scrap/lab.  Multi scallops, double scallops, scalloped mat.  I also used a paper template, which I colourized to my liking and sized it down.  Carole did a masterclass on  paper templates, one of the best classes she has done. Paper templates suits me as I am not a fan of using patterned papers.  I used the same technique which I have given tips on for the  round photo, with it's cut out frame.

Sue such a lovely page with those squirrels and you use a lot of techniques. I love those punches and they are on my wishlist. Thanks for reminding me of the masterclass on paper templates. I will have to rewatch that one, maybe when I'm in the States and have some time for myself when everyone else is of to school or work.

I had to send a couple of Estercards through the post and I have made this one in the 3 languages I needed. I used a card idea from the Card Workshop and made the background with a Quatrefoil overlay that I had done sometime ago. The eggs and bunnies come from different easter themed sets I have in my stash for quite a long time and I think they were a freebie from CF.

I wish you all a happy Easter weekend if you celebrate it and otherwise have a nice weekend too.

Just as I was pondering what I could use for this week, the evening sky treated me to this colorful display which only lasted for 2 minutes before fading. I took a couple of photos from our upstairs room. The buildings on the other side of our small street are already very dark, but that is ok by me the sky is the highlight!

L = Lava Cake

On 3/28/2024 at 7:00 PM, Rene Marker said:

Yeah, with my shaky hands at times, paper cutting like this is a big no for me. I do have an older cutting machine that I could use if I wanted to do something like this. My handwriting has also gotten worse in the last 10 years. My formally pretty cursive handwriting is no longer pretty. So I do very little of anything with my hands that need precision!

Rene I have the same problem and nowadays my handwriting is so terrible that I use the pc to print address labels otherwise I'm afraid the postal services are not able to read the addresses and the postman/woman has a hard time delivering my letters. Getting older isn't always plain sailing but it is what it is, so keep smiling! As long my head and thinking stays in tact I can live with a lot of the aging problems.

On 3/28/2024 at 3:11 PM, Susan Ewart said:

Oh no Corrie.  I hope laser is the treatment you get to have.  Sending you positive vibes (and a hug for good measure) for your appointment.

Thank you and after a day in the hospital for tests that involved scan, eye pressure, lots of different eyedrops, testing, talking with the doctors and so on, the doctor couldn't explain what the problem is that caused my eyesight to drop 25% in a short time. The scans showed no difference to last year, my lens is clear, so no laser treatment. The only thing that came up was the fact that my eyes were rather dry despite the eyedrops I use. Therefore I got not drops but a gel that should moister better. I have to use that 7x a day for 2 weeks and then 6x a day until I have to come back after 2 month and blink my eyes a lot. Hopefully it is going better and if not or not enough, more testing and scans. Luckily I am allowed to fly with more drops during the flight, I can go!!!! But it is a nuisance I can only read with 1 eye and being at the pc is also awkward, maybe it isn't bad that I don't take my laptop with me! I will be kept busy by the girls and the dogs anyway.

So far I could only come up with the quote in different colors on a spiral. I put it on a T-shirt just to see if it would work. It is not very original, but I have more pressing things on my mind at the moment. As no one else has posted something here yet I want to give it a start, maybe somebody else will follow. Depending on the outcome of eye tests tomorrow in hospital I'll try to come up with something else. Hopefully my eye only needs a laser treatment which will be the best option, otherwise there is something seriously wrong and my trip to my daughter is in 3 weeks...... Keep your fingers crossed for me!

2 hours ago, Sue Thomas said:

We are like to 2 peas in a pod,  I won the Periodical script the other week, and you won the zig zag script.  We have both showcased photos using  our winnings within a day of each other. Not only that Carole has  featured  examples of our frames  in this weeks blog.  Coincidence or what!! 🙂

Exactly my thoughts, this is becoming uncanny!